On Wednesday, October 1, the Rotary Club of Beaumont’s noon meeting was called to order by President Uliana Trylowsky. Joining Uliana at the head table were: Stephanie Harris providing the Invocation, Brooke Morrow leading in pledges to the flags, and Gigi Mazzola to introduce our guests and visiting Rotarian.

Announcements included:

*Rotary “garage sale” – due to the move of the Rotary office from the Elegante Hotel to the SETX Foundation building in downtown Beaumont, there are items to be offered for your taking if you so desire – items are on the cart in the hall.

*Amanda Ellis – reminded members that the “Walk to End Alzheimers” is this Saturday, October 4th.

*Kym Johns – announced a “Rotary After Hours” for Thursday, 10/2 at 5:30pm at Madison’s.

*Stephanie Harris – gave an update about “Wine Down for Rotary” on Thursday 10/9.

President Uliana introduced our day’s speaker: the Honorable John Stevens, Criminal District Court judge for Jefferson County. Judge Stevens is in his 5th term of office, grew up in Groves and has spent over 40 years in public service.

He gave a very interesting and at times entertaining overview of his years as a judge. A momentous time was when Janet Reno appointed him to serve on the James Byrd murder trial and he reflected on some of those challenges. He then shared a philosophy from Cicero of the “3 elements of Living Well”- live honestly, do no harm, treat others with respect – that leads to an honorable citizen. Judge Stevens shared a childhood story – one in which another young neighbor boy suffered severe burns due to an explosion. Judge Stevens as a child himself, was nearby and knew from Boy Scout training to “stop, drop, roll” – ran to the boy, got him on the ground, and patted out the flames with his baseball mit. Fortunately some adults quickly came to assist and the boy survived. Most of the criminal court cases involved drugs for 1/3, another 1/3 for drug related, and 1/3 all the remaining issues. He uses his life skills and personal characteristics of integrity to try to counsel those he is in contact with by teaching them: when facing a problem- first identify the problem, select a temporary solution, and then make plans for a permanent fix.

As a tribute for being our speaker today, Uliana announced a donation to Rotary International in Judge Stevens honor for the area of Peace and Conflict Resolution.

After reminder that there is no meeting next Wednesday, 10/8 due to Wine Down with Rotary on 10/9; and the members reciting the 4-way Test – the meeting was adjourned.